Chocolate Gingerbread Men are a fun, holiday treat that is paleo, grain free, and has low carb (sugar free) version. I thought that gingerbread would be enhanced by adding chocolate. Since chocolate makes everything a little better. I baked the gingerbread first, then used the cookie cutters, and it was so much easier than using the cutters on the raw, sticky dough. Just have to cut them out before the cookies cool completely. It was so easy and mess free, and works better with this kind of dough. I have to confess that I am not very good at decorating, even though I worked at a commercial bakery when I was very young. They had me baking, not icing because my frosting skills are somewhat rustic. At least you can be excited that your cookies will probably turn out much better looking.
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Chocolate Gingerbread Men, grain free
A fun, paleo, chocolate gingerbread holiday cookie with low carb options.
Ingredients
- Cookie Ingredients:
- ⅔ cup almond flour where to buy almond flour
- ⅓ cup coconut flour sifted, where to buy coconut flour
- ¼ cup cocoa or cacao powder sifted, where to buy cacao powder
- cup Sweetener of choice: ⅔ coconut sugar for paleo or ⅔ cup erythritol for low carb, where to buy erythritol
- ½ teaspoon baking soda or 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 eggs beaten
- ⅓ cup butter or coconut oil melted, where to buy coconut oil
- 2 tablespoon organic molasses where to buy molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (organic GF kind), where to buy vanilla extract
- Paleo Royal Icing * optional:
- 2 tablespoon coconut butter melted, where to buy coconut butter
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil or butter melted
- 2 teaspoon honey or for low carb use 1 ½ tablespoon erythritol or ¼ teaspoon liquid stevia, where to buy liquid stevia
- ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon lemon juice
- Melted chocolate for decorating *optional:
- 1 ½ tablespoon dark chocolate chips (soy and dairy free kind I use this one) or for low carb use unsweetened chocolate and add sweetener of choice to taste.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F, and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl combine: almond flour, coconut flour, cocoa powder, sweetener of choice (coconut sugar or erythritol), baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt. Mix together thoroughly.
- In a medium mixing bowl combine: eggs, melted butter or coconut oil, molasses and vanilla extract. Mix together well.
- Add egg mixture to flour mixture and combine thoroughly.
- Once dough is thoroughly mixed place bowl of dough in freezer for 8 minutes. Remove from freezer and place between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll dough into a flat rectangle that will fit on your baking sheet.
- Peel away top parchment paper slowly and place dough on baking sheet.* we are going to bake before cutting with cookie cutters* this is unconventional, but with this kind of dough it works so much better.
- Bake sheet of dough for 10 to 15 minutes, check at 10 minutes or until browned. Remove baking sheet from oven and let cool for only two minutes. Don’t remove gingerbread from sheet.
- Lift parchment paper with gingerbread on it off the baking sheet and onto the counter.
- Use your cookie cutters now before cookies cool of too much. There will be extra to snack on between cookies. Then place shaped cookies on a plate to cool.
- Mix all Icing ingredients together and place in a container and put in the fridge for 8 minutes to thicken.
- Once icing is gel like consistency, then use a small, clean paint brush or butter knife to spread frosting on gingerbread men. Let cookies sit until icing dries (can refrigerate to speed up time).
- When icing is dry, melt chocolate chips and use a toothpick to draw eyes, mouth, and buttons and to decorate with.
- Left overs should be stored in a container in the fridge.
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Notes
Nutritional data for Paleo Version with icing (coconut sugar and honey): Servings: 18 cookies, Serving size: 1 cookie, Cal:132, Carbs: 13 g / Net Carbs: 11.4 g, Fiber: 1.6 g, Fat: 9 g, Protein: 2 g, Sugar: 10 g
Nutritional Data for Low Carb Version with icing ( erythritol and stevia): Servings: 18 cookies, Serving Size: 1 cookie, Cal: 106, Carbs: 5.1 g / Net Carbs: 3.5 g, Fiber: 1.6 g, Fat: 9 g, Protein: 2 g, Sugar: 2 g
**Based on smaller sized cookie cutters*
*all nutritional data are estimates based on the products I used.*
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